As another comment pointed out, the small countries vs US Network effects excuse doesn't really fare well when you look at the successful startup environment of Israel.
The USA is perfectly aware of this dynamic because faced with TikTok, their first reflex was to try to ban them.
Israel should be lauded for managing to be an intensely vibrant and high-tech country, and European countries should try to learn from that, but even that is apparently not quite sufficient. So I think GP has a point.
Annoyingly, that list includes companies with Israeli founders that aren’t companies founded in Israel (e.g., WeWork). There’s no need to do that though, there are plenty of Israeli companies! (Oh, I see they have a pie chart of companies in Israel and it’s about 25% by value)
It’s also too bad that it excludes public companies
or large exits (e.g., Wix and Waze) since those are even better retorts to the “can’t build companies” claim.
None. But they have tons of startups that provide services to the military-industrial complex which is why they're so successful. They copied the USA's SBIR system but provide much bigger grants.
The USA is perfectly aware of this dynamic because faced with TikTok, their first reflex was to try to ban them.
And this take is just hot garbage.